Will Team GB have men’s and women’s football teams at the 2020 Olympics?

Sam France

15:32 SAST 2019/07/06

With the Tokyo games only a year away, talk has already begun of Great Britain's entry following mixed fortunes at London 2012

When the Great Britain women’s side lined up to face New Zealand in their opening match at London 2012, it was the first time a British side of any kind had taken part in the tournament in 52 years.

They won 1-0 thanks to a superb free kick from then 24-year-old Steph Houghton, while the men’s side drew 1-1 with Senegal the following day with Craig Bellamy on the scoresheet. Both teams were eventually knocked out in their respective quarter-finals.

What shape the British squad will take is as yet unclear, though it is likely to be coached by England boss Phil Neville and feature predominantly English players.

However the likes of Welsh midfielder Jess Fishlock, Northern Ireland’s Rachel Furness or Scotland’s Jen Beattie, Kim Little or Erin Cuthbert should also be in contention, while form in the 2019-20 season will clearly play a part in thinking.

With plenty of players from the other British regions plying their trade in the Women's Super League and abroad, there is still time for them to stake a claim. Knocking Neville’s Lionesses out of his preferred squad may, however, prove tricky.

But despite somewhat nostalgic memories of Stuart Pearce’s England-Wales hybrid eleven being dumped out in vaguely embarrassing fashion on home soil by South Korea, there will be no reunion of the men’s side in Japan next year.

Daniel Sturridge’s crucial missed penalty in that shoot-out defeat could well prove to be the last kick ever made in anger by a British man at an Olympic football tournament.

An agreement between the various FAs was never reached, although they wouldn’t have qualified anyway.